quail

Although the rain stopped, the night sky cleared up, and the weather forecast said that there would be no more precipitation in a short period of time, it was still too dangerous to go to the mountains at night to walk the dirt road.That night, the two of them had a hot pot of sour soup, beans and rice downstairs in the hotel. Before going to bed, they watched two episodes of popular TV series broadcast by the local TV station on a small TV of more than 20 inches. .

The wet and messy bed had been tidied back to its original state by the waiter, but they were lying on another new one. Yang Jian was by the window, and Li Bai was by the middle aisle. It was awkward to face each other when they woke up. It's different again——Yang Jian always falls asleep quickly next to Li Bai, and will unconsciously lean against him, especially in the chilly autumn and winter.Li Bai held his breath, moved closer, and gently hugged his waist, forgetting the feeling of insomnia.

As a result, I woke up at six o'clock the next day.

It can only be blamed for sleeping too much with black and white upside down a few days ago, and finally woke up for a while, and did nothing but go shopping and go to bed, so I really couldn't get sleepy.Waking up, Li Bai heard even and gentle breathing, Yang Jian was still asleep, so he also closed his eyelids, trying to make himself squint for a while.However, the more you squint, the more it looks like a struggle, and the more you struggle, the more you become sober. In the end, Li Bai gave up resisting, and when he saw it, his breath stopped again.

There is fog outside the window, there are distant mountains in the fog, there are tall buildings under construction, the exposed steel structure is like clusters of iron trees, and there is also a cold sky after the rain, not a cloud hangs, only a vague sun hangs , flooded with white light, wiped away the blue from the horizon.

And Yang Jian is lying quietly in the background, the tips of her hair, the tips of her ears, and the smooth neckline are all transparent and full of light.

This made Li Bai unable not to look fascinated.

He didn't stop staring blankly until those eyes opened in front of him and he rubbed them casually.

"Good morning." Subconsciously said.

"Morning." Yang Jian said, suddenly looked at Li Bai very seriously.

Two fingers touched his eyelids, just a little bit, and the index finger put it on the tip of his nose. Yang Jian showed Li Bai what he took off, it turned out to be an eyelash.

Li Bai heard his own violent heartbeat, and the pulse was beating to his ears. Was it on purpose?Not intentional?It made him blush.He avoided Yang Jian's half-smiling eyes, grabbed his right hand, looked at his black quartz dial, "Seven o'clock sharp, have you developed a biological clock every day in class?"

"It's just a coincidence," Yang Jian yawned while the eyelashes were still on his fingertips, "I usually don't think of it at a quarter past seven."

Li Bai laughed, and Yang Jian's life-and-death state of shaving and combing his hair after waking up every night appeared in front of his eyes, as if it happened yesterday.Anyway, my home is close and I don’t need to watch the morning reading. Teacher Yang is always confident in bed, and he won’t complain that his co-sleeper doesn’t call him early. He just takes the breakfast away from the dining table and holds the steering wheel with it.It's been over a year and still hasn't changed?Or Yang Jian started to suffer from insomnia again.Li Bai wondered what the inside of that house would look like now, according to Yang Jian's personality...it should be clean and bare?But he didn't ask, he felt that the current self might have a chance to go back and see for himself, "Would you like to lie down for a while?" Saying this, he lay down on Yang Jian's shoulder, put his weight on it, and put his hands on him. Gently scratch the back of the waist.

After scratching him a few times, he was pushed back onto the pillow. Yang Jian couldn't see any sleepiness on his face. He frowned, touched his forehead, and touched his face by the way. Li Bai knew that his fever had subsided. The only remaining symptom was a sore throat, and then I saw the man get up and get out of bed, buttoning his shirt, and looking at him out of the corner of his eye.

"Get up," Yang Jian said, "take the medicine and we'll go downstairs."

The hospital gown was finally changed, and the wide-leg jeans could accommodate the plaster cast, but to straighten the leg of the trousers, Yang Jian had to squat by the bed to help Li Bai tidy up.That morning meal was also quite hearty. It was the camellia and glutinous rice cake that Li Bai had been thinking about earlier, but it was not the shop next to the hospital.Yang Jian found a shop nearby, and the taste was even better—it was too easy to get around. Li Bai drank the medicine with hot water when he was full, and watched Yang Jian across the table dip a pile of firewood and burnt chili peppers with egg glutinous rice cakes. At the end of the day, I always feel that this person is too familiar with this land.

Yang Jian loves to observe, and his ability to adapt is not to mention, so he doesn't have to worry about starving or getting lost when going to any strange place with him.But the kind of comfort he showed here is too strong. He drives the navigation in the car, but often doesn't look at it. At this moment, he can't even change his expression when he eats the hot and spicy local Sichuan spicy and Hunan spicy.

It's like I've been here many times.

After dinner, I went to the supermarket again. Li Bai wanted to buy a knife, but he only bought one, with a long blade and a pointed tip, suitable for cutting watermelon.He also specially bought a watermelon to show the rationality of this big knife.But Yang Jian bought a lot of odds and ends, including masks, paper and pens, bread, chocolate, mineral water, a pair of soft China, a toolbox containing flashlight pliers and screwdrivers of various sizes.He put them all on the back seat, pressing Li Bai's blade.

The map drawn earlier, the route memorized, all followed the car that exploded into the barren hills, and the road after leaving the city could only be followed by Li Bai's memory.After spending so long inquiring and inquiring, and arriving just one step away, Li Bai is quite confident in his sense of direction, but will the road be closed?Could the red mask have been scared away by the mudslide and moved to the refuge camp provided by the government?Always go and have a look.He remembered that it was a solitary peak, relatively low, sandwiched between two ridges, and one had to climb over one to get in.Knowing that the mountain I was walking on has collapsed and the road is gone, the only remaining choice is the more remote side.

With the electronic map as a reference, the foot of the mountain was located very accurately, and he did not see the warning sign for the closure of the mountain ahead. Half of them only have 2G network.Yang Jian found a spacious road to park, and asked Li Bai to pull out his backpack from the side of the car seat and look through it. There was an envelope with Beijing No. [-] Middle School in the interlayer.

There are three sheets of paper in the envelope, which are satellite maps of this mountainous area. They are printed in color and have different magnifications. The clearest one is enough to identify the basic direction of the mountain range. The other one is printed on the back with a plan of the mountain road. The left and right are reversed, and the size is correct. Quite accurate, you can intuitively see the layout of the roads in the mountains through the paper when placed under the bright light.

The screen capture date of each paper shows that it is 26:[-]pm on August [-]th.

"We are here." Compared to the last stuck screen of the electronic map, Yang Jian drew a circle.

"Where did you print it?" Li Bai asked.

"Home," Yang Jian reversed the direction, stepped on the accelerator, and walked close to the inside of the mountain road, and moist air came in from the half-open window, blowing people very comfortably, "They said you were buried here In a mountain."

That feeling became more and more intense. Li Bai looked at the map and pointed the direction. The destination was also set by him. After walking this road, Yang Jian was still the leader.Yang Jian was too relaxed, it didn't look like he was going to kill someone, but he was on a long journey, he came prepared, he avoided the world, and he didn't even intend to hide it.There were many guesses in his heart, but Li Bai kept quiet, just obediently making marks on the map, watching the remaining journey gradually shorten.

He has to try his best to be in the same state as Yang Jian, right?

He was the one who wanted to commit the crime, so he shouldn't be suspicious and nervous, right?

If you ask, you may get an answer, but if Yang Jian has something to tell him, why not wait a little longer.

Believe it or wait, it is not an easy thing to do, there is no certainty about where he will go next, who he will meet, but Li Bai shook his heart, looked carefully, and did not find any uneasiness.As long as they walk together, that's the way he's looking for.He and Yang Jian have both studied and made mistakes for so many years, and now they finally have a tacit understanding.

Five days ago, Li Bai entered the mountain at noon. He was driving in the rain and couldn't go up the speed, so he was delayed until night.This time they set off earlier, and the road conditions were slightly better than the other side. Although it took a long detour, the two of them climbed over the steep ridge before the day was over.The road curved and turned from up to down. Yang Jian opened the toolbox on the top of the mountain, unloaded the license plate, checked the water tank, and sharpened the knife.Li Bai couldn't squat down, so he could only stand next to him and look down the mountain.

The lonely peak is there, and I finally saw the "true face of Lushan Mountain". I can only say that it is really short and out of place. It is an inconspicuous fruit core and a stone covered with moss. Yang Jian stood up and handed the shiny watermelon knife to him. Li Bai, looking together with him, the sky has already passed the brightest time, separated by a layer of mist, the top of the mountain is too low to see clearly, surrounded by such two rows of mountains, using "peak" to describe it is a bit too much.

There is a shortcut to go down the mountain, which is much faster than climbing the mountain. When we reached the foot of the lonely peak, dusk had just begun.There was also a village here, which was also affected by the disaster, but it was not to such a serious extent, but some houses were damaged, the road was still good, and there were no vehicles from the rescue team stopping by.

Yang Jian glanced at Li Bai, and Li Bai put on the mask as agreed in advance, pretending to be inactive, leaning back on the back of the chair, motionless.The speed of the car slowed down, and along the narrow river running through the village, we slowly passed the sweet potato field and the plum forest. The black and green were so black and green that our eyes could be drowned out. There were voices and music in front of us, and it was very lively.I saw a flat land next to the pond, which was probably a small square in the center of the village. Many figures stood on it, talking and laughing in a group, moving forward slowly.

"It's a reed." Li Bai saw that the old people were playing the reed pipe in their hands. It looked like a saxophone, but it was made of bamboo pipes. The top was raised high above the head, and it was tied with bright red satin.Rows of rows sounded one after another, forming a pleasant resonance, but also a wonderfully long, as if no matter how close the car drove, the blowing sound still sounded the same far away.

"Someone is getting married." Yang Jian put his eyes down, parked the car at the fork closest to the square, pulled down the brake lever and rolled up the four windows, "This is a Miao village."

When the sending-off team had gone a little further, he got out of the car. Li Bai put the watermelon knife in his sleeve, watched him walk a hundred paces away, talked to the people at the end of the team, and then led an old man in blue Go back to the car.The silhouette gradually became clearer, and the old man was hunched, only reaching the height of Yang Jian's elbow, and he was carrying a basket of red eggs and a basket of beef jerky in his hand, which was probably a wedding gift, and looked heavy, but he He walks like flying, and the eyes on the dark and thin face are also shining and shrewd.

Yang Jian led him to knock on the window, and Li Bai lowered the glass in a timely manner. His movements were slow, and he continued to sit listlessly, while he stood on the edge of the window to look at him.

"The hospital doesn't accept them anymore. My brother is so young, no one wants to see him waiting to die," Yang Jian spoke slowly, with a faint tired and sad look on his face, "I have an old classmate from Dejiang! I also He could understand a little Dejiang dialect, and he showed us the way. He said that there is a great fairy here, wearing a red mask, and he is very magical. Let him show us that maybe we can be saved. He said that he is on this mountain, you heard ever?"

The old man muttered a few words, his voice was thick and his accent was heavy, but Yang Jian was able to get back to the words, "Yes, leukemia," he amplified his voice to match his ear, "You said he lived on the mountain? Oh, That mountain, he hasn't come down from the heavy rain for the past two days?"

"You can't come down if there is no major event, so you won't be active when you come down, right...the lights were on last night? Okay, okay, thank you," Yang Jian opened the back compartment, and stuffed the whole piece of soft China into the old man's hand, " Excuse me, there is a happy event in the village, let's make a point."

The old man's eyes were rounded, and he yelled shortly. He refused to answer at first, and kept nagging fiercely, but Yang Jian kept laughing at him and handing him cigarettes.Of course it was successful in the end, seeing the old man put the cigarette into his jacket, waved his hand, and seemed to be flicking his clothes away, Yang Jian took out Nanjing, lit one for himself, and sat down halfway through the smoke. back in the car.

The smiling face just now had cooled down, and he looked thoughtfully at the wedding team that had gone far ahead.The Miao people's wedding dresses are not mainly red, and the rest of the team are even more colorfully dressed. However, with the setting sun shining, it is a large area that is so red that it is black.

"Teacher Yang," Li Bai said suddenly, holding the handle of the knife in his cuff tightly, "Let's make an agreement, you lock the car doors, and the windows too, and you can't open them easily before you leave here."

"I feel the smell of conspiracy everywhere here." He said again.

Yang Jian took a drag on his cigarette and waited for him to continue.

"It's just weird, why would you go to see off your relatives when it's getting dark?" Li Bai pulled up his mask a bit, and narrowed his eyes to stare at the sun in the mountain pass, "And there is a village in the deep mountains and old forests. Those who live on the mountain are leaders of cults. I checked and found that there are many kinds of Miao people, and some of them are very evil."

"This is indeed a taboo," Yang Jian said, "Send off the relatives at night, because it is a ghost marriage."

"Ghost marriage?" Li Bai sat up straight all of a sudden.

"Not exactly. The man died before marriage, and the woman is going to be a widow to accompany him." Yang Jian put out the cigarette, turned on the air conditioner to breathe for two or three minutes, and then did as Li Bai said, locked the window Locked the door.He drove the car forward, still in a leisurely manner, and at this time Li Bai also recovered from his speech, and asked tentatively: "Voluntary?"

"Maybe." Yang Jian said, the wheels ran over the red paper all over the floor, passed the small square that had been neglected, and turned to the road on the other side of the narrow river.Before turning onto the mountain road of Gufeng, at that intersection, Li Bai saw the procession gathered on the downstream river bank, a bamboo raft floating on the water, and a woman in full dress stood in the center of the crowd, crying bitterly towards it.

"The one tied on it...is it a paper figure?" It was too dark for Li Bai to see clearly.

"Yes, I was held at the head of the team just now." Yang Jian didn't look sideways, "The one who was burned to death in the firefighting did not have a whole body."

The woman had already taken off the gorgeous silver ornaments on her head, and seemed to have cut a section of her hair, and put them down together. Afterwards, the bamboo raft was untied from the rope and drifted away downstream.

"Are you afraid?" Yang Jian didn't rush up the hillside, "You can also go back the same way."

"I think she really loves her husband." Li Bai took off his mask and shook his hand on the brake lever.Yang Jian seemed a little surprised, and then he laughed. As he climbed the mountain, Li Bai heard the reeds blowing again, accompanied by singing, a female voice led, followed by men, women and children singing, floating on the river like a thick fog, leaving They are getting further and further apart.

You can see the torches when you lower your eyes, and when they are lit for the first time, the river bank is brightly reflected.It really makes people feel that they are singing antiphonally. Li Bai remembered the information he had checked. In the village during the slack season, the Miao people would come and sing for a few days, and they would be able to settle down for life.

Regarding the fact that he was about to kill a living person, Li Bai's heart did not fluctuate much, and it was not even as shocking as the ghost marriage ceremony.In fact, he has closed his eyes and simulated countless times. Whether to take off the mask before killing or after killing, he has considered for a long time, and finally decided on the latter, because with his own skills, he might not be able to take off the mask after forcibly removing the mask to cause alertness. people kill.The only change now is that he is lame and has an extra Yang Jian. He can't do everything by himself. I will do the next step.

"The information released by the police is that the two who were at large were not caught, but those who were caught shot two of them, and the rest are still in prison. I asked him in the county town that he lived alone, like barefoot. Daxian, there should be no gang, and no one believes him now, they all scoff at him, saying that he only knows how to steal money." Li Bai put his mask back on again, and pretended to be sick, he said coldly, " If he doesn’t live alone, we’ll trick him down. It won’t work if he goes down the mountain, so give him money to see if he can go down.”

Yang Jian didn't reply, he concentrated on driving, and suddenly lowered the speed of the car, both of them saw the light behind a few trees on the slope, not dim, but very small, probably only one light. "The crutches are ready, don't fall out of the knife later." Parking the car at a place within a step outside the courtyard wall, Yang Jian looked sideways at Li Bai, there was a hint of a joke in his words, which made Li Bai feel even more weird.When the matter came to an end, he didn't want to say any more. Leaning on crutches, holding the handle of his knife carefully, and pretending to be weak, he followed Yang Jian and knocked on the red-painted door. the door.

"Who?" The response was only a vague syllable.

Yang Jian repeated what he said just now at the foot of the mountain, sincerely and a little confusedly, like a good brother who rushed to the doctor in a hurry.They also talked about how much money they brought.

The door was opened, the dust was blowing in the face, the door hinge sounded harshly, Yang Jian's flashlight was still held firmly, and the snow-white light illuminated a scarlet face under the door beam.

Glaring eyes, fangs, broken tongue, black holed mouth.

Wearing a thick and complicated gown, her figure is invisible, but she is not short.

The shadow who always stands behind Gao Jie and whispers is not short either.

So this is it?

The bangs almost reached the top of the mask, and behind the bangs, Li Bai's eyes stared painfully.His heart was also throbbing, and he was wearing the jacket that Yang Jian wore when he came to find him. The smell of camphor was still cold, which made people breathe calmly, and the hand holding the knife could be covered by the wide sleeve and trembled, but, Emotions, this kind of thing, can't be covered in front of oneself.Is he angry?Are you wronged?In anxiety, depression, nausea and grief?Are you hesitating?When he finally stood here and saw this person in front of him...he couldn't describe what he was feeling now, and he didn't seem to be able to understand it clearly, let alone predict it.He thought he would be so happy that he needed to hold back his laughter. The blood was hot and sticky, and he could only laugh out loud when he splashed on his face.But now, the corner of his mouth couldn't move, he just stood here, looking at that face.

The red mask was taciturn, even a little dull, and his voice was so muffled that it sounded low and small. He beckoned the two of them to go inside.Li Bai followed closely beside Yang Jian, walking through the empty yard. The four walls are built of earth on both sides, one side is a fence, and only one side has a room. There is a tree in front of the door, and a small house behind the door. There are carvings, but they are also full of scars. Judging from the range of flashlight lighting, it is indeed the simplicity of an old building.

Only this room can live in. Li Bai glanced at the corner of Yang Jian's eyes from the corner of his eye, and he believed that Yang Jian had already noticed it.

And this room is also extremely shabby, there are boxes and boxes of rags covered with plastic sheets piled up in the corner, all of which are photocopied leaflets that Li Bai received from the detective at a high price, the color has faded, there is no scent of sesame oil, that The lamps and candles on the altar where he had a photo with "Trump" were all off, only the incandescent light bulb hanging in the air was unstable, and an old manual generator was connected to illuminate the white face and black body on the altar. Two statues.

God of the sun and moon.

On the left is the benevolent eyebrows of the Bodhisattva, and on the right is the smiling face of Maitreya...

Same as in the photo.

More the same as in memory.

It's them.

Li Bai's back was already drenched with sweat, and he endured the violent urge to vomit. He silently watched the red mask move slowly, sat on the bed with suspicious stains in the other corner of the room, patted the edge of the bed and waved to himself, what does that mean? Probably to give him a pulse, or how to do it?Li Bai heard fluttering outside the window, a mountain bird flapping its wings in this quiet night...or a bat?What does it matter.In the past, he was arrogant and arrogant, but now he is down to this point, but he still wants to die.Unforgivable.Must die.Li Bai clearly saw that there was no fear or panic in his heart, only a completely transparent calm remained. Yang Jian was looking at him, did he see his heart?See his soul?He could finally smile, with no expression under the mask, but his soul was smiling, and he had the strength to drag this cumbersome body, took a step, walked to the bed, stabbed it under the blood-red false face, stabbed it through his neck.

Then turn around and tell Yang Yuqiu that I don't owe you anything.

Ask Yang Jian if you will love me well.

No, it's to tell Yang Jian that you don't have to love me anymore.

It was only in the minute before the murder that Li Bai learned to really put himself in this position—he vaguely understood that he could not force Yang Jian to love a person in this position, let alone doing this irreparable thing. After what happened to you, and then use it as a reason to be loved... that is simply a coercion, I killed someone for you, so you have to love me...?Li Bai suddenly didn't want to make the word love too heavy and broad, just like he didn't want the blood that spewed out to splash on Yang Jian later.

Are they complicit?Should they?What a romantic word, but now thinking of it, Li Bai will be weak.So don't hesitate any more, and don't think about the future, Li Bai put his weight on his right foot, raised his crutch, and before he could take a step, he suddenly heard Yang Jian say: "Don't move."

His shoulder was pressed heavily, and then Yang Jian passed by him and walked straight to the bed, "Haven't you noticed? He is a fake."

He spoke very lightly, but Li Bai almost couldn't stand still when he heard it. He saw the red mask tense up all of a sudden, and the slowness disappeared completely. The bed wanted to run out, but was grabbed by Yang Jian, who strangled his neck with his collar, and there was a bang sound, probably because his arm was dislocated.Then he started yelling again, shouting like an animal, much sharper than Li Bai thought, but Yang Jian carried him in front of the statue as if nothing had happened, and pressed him down on the table, only to hear his head hit hard on the yellow cloth On the altar, a candle was knocked down, his hands were twisted behind his waist, his knees softened, he just hung on the edge of the altar with his chin, and knelt straight on the ground.Li Bai had already jumped under the statue and stood in front of him. Yang Jian didn't have the patience to handcuff him any more. He put his knee on his back, stepped on his calf, and lifted his mask.

Leng Leng, the wooden sculpture painted into a grimace rolled to the ground.

What was revealed was a pimple-ridden, childish face.